The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

[WIP] Warden's Reach World Map (Fantasy)

Hey guys,

New member here - first post and first map! I'm a game designer with a little Photoshop experience. I needed a map for a game I'm working on and didn't have the money to pay one of you awesome guys so I figured I'd do it myself

The game is medieval fantasy, with a mainland and four outer areas. The outer areas are the homes of powerful creatures and are heavily themed in style and color (hence the weird colors on each area).

For reference I used the Saderan tutorial for the environment and read through the 17-page guide from Eduard Imhof on positioning names.

I actually really liked how this turned out compared to my expectations (think 6 year old with crayons) but I know it could be improved. Here are a couple things I'm not so confident with:

1. The naming seems very weak. I think changing font color for the largest areas might help but I probably need to do more. My idea was to segment the names into three sizes relative to their geographical size. I dunno.

2. Territory definition isn't strong enough. I feel like some places look really nice but others just kindof blend into each other without any natural border. Seems confusing and ambiguous to me.

3. Map Border. I couldn't find a decent map border tutorial (there is probably one on this website but I missed it) so my border is currently black.

4. Kingdom borders. I currently don't have any kingdom borders and I need to split the middle land into three kingdoms. I assume some sort of dashed line is best but I was actually having trouble getting the pen tool to stroke a dashed line. Anyone know of some resources for this?

Of course any other feedback is welcome as well! This is my first map so It's likely I'm not seeing other important mishaps.

Nice Map! The somewhat muted colors makes is pleasant to look at, I like it. A few observations, some of which might be irrelevant:

Your main continent and the southern isle-continents seem all to be aligend horizontally... it looks just very similar to me.
I like that you distinguished all landmasses with a different color scheme, but compared to the main continent the outer areas have litle variety, or "green" zones.
Since there is no scale I can only guess, but there are very few rivers. Is that on purpose?

Regarding some of your questions:

3. I like the barrier tape line around the map, makes it look nautical. The cover and interior maps from Paizo's adventure "Savage Tide" have a very similar line, which you could try to imitate. Replace the black border with parchment maybe?
4. Dashed lines are easy, if you know how: get a rectangular brush shape, then go to your Brush Palette (F5 for Windows). Under "Brush Tip Shape", change roundness and spacing according to your needs. That's all.

Regarding horizontal alignment - are you referring to the fact that both islands are the same rough shape as the main island, or that they're plotted evenly in their corners of the map (literally on the same horizontal line)?

I plan on adding quite a bit of detail to each area as the setting becomes more detailed. You can see what I mean in the updated image posted below.

You are completely right that there aren't many rivers. I didn't quite realize how little water was moving through the islands. I've since added a wetlands area (will be given a little more detail later) and will probably add more rivers around the outer rim of Laria.

I'll be adding a scale soon - it will depend on the physical size of the game I'm working on, so scale is a bit finicky right now.

The map borders have to take a backseat to the map itself right now as the friends I'm working with are waiting for the setting to be finished. I'll definitely put some more work into the border soon though as it bothers me.

Some new stuff:

1. How can I get a fade on just the interior of my kingdom borders? Similar to the borders in this map: here

2. Take a look at the Scarlet Hills text. Notice how the road moves in a circle inside the hill area. I want to put a town in the middle of that circle, but I have no idea what to do with the text placement. Any ideas on how to add a town icon and alter the text so it's not directly over top of the town?

3. General thoughts on the new additions (roads, town icons, trees, wetlands, territory border)?

Quick update - this is what it looks like when I put a town in between the words Scarlet and Hills. I think it actually works out since there's no other text (larger or smaller) nearby to otherwise divert the eyes.